Walter Padick
Walter Padick is a nemesis of Roland, who was introduced as the man in black who Roland pursues in The Gunslinger. He is a demonic sorcerer and an emissary of the Crimson King who goes by many names including Randall Flagg, Walter O'Dim, Rudin Filaro, Raymond Fiegler, Richard Fannin, Walter Hodji, Walter Farden, The Walkin' Dude, The Covenant Man and Marten Broadcloak. He first appears in Stephen King's The Stand and was also prominent as the antagonist in The Eyes of the Dragon, as ''Randall Flagg. History Early Life He was given to a mill owner and his wife to be brought up to learn the ways of men and at thirteen he grew bored and burned down his home and sought out his father Maerlyn. The next year, he was raped by a fellow wanderer, but instead of returning home he went on to fullfill his destiny. Over the years, it is implied that Walter learned the ways of Dark magic and became a very powerful sorcerer and to some extents becoming a sort of Demon with a "quasi-immortality". It may have been, at one point or another, that Walter was taught dark magic by Maerlyn, the very Wizard who is responsible for forging the Bends O'the Rainbow, the mystical seeing balls (one of which Roland finds in Wizard and Glass), because he is often seen possessing said seeing balls throughout different parts of the dark tower story, using them for his own wrong doings. It also appears he is a keen studier as he wished the remains of a Slow Mutant to be bagged for later studies. At one point he begins to attempt to drive a wedge between the John Farson and James Farson revealing the truth of James' parents' deaths and so causing him to become increasingly on the side of the Crimson King. He enters into a sexual relationship with the demon of the Pink Sphere whom he calls his sister. Early Career (Eyes of the Dragon) Early in his career as a dark sorcerer, Flagg sought to overthrow the peaceful kingdom of Delain and plunge the land into a thousand years of anarchy. Flagg first appears as a long time advisor to the Delainian Monarchy (going back multiple generations), but secretly he had wicked intentions. Flagg's first attempt to overthrow the kingdom comes in the form of an assassination attempt on Queen Sasha, who is pregnant with Thomas, heir to the throne. Flagg eventually succeeds in forcing the queen's maid to murder her, despite Thomas being born. As the boys Thomas and his brother Peter grow older, Flagg schemes another plan. This time, he poisons King Roland and frames Peter. The high judge finds Peter guilty and locks him away in the Needle (a huge dungeon tower at the center of Delain's royal city). As a result of this, Thomas is declared king of Delain but gives a large portion of the power over to Flagg because of his young age. Knowing who is behind the entire mess, Peter manages to escape the Needle and with his allies goes to retrieve King Roland's bow and kill Flagg. Upon reaching Delain's royal chamber they find no bow and Flagg reveals his demonic qualities to them. Flagg is about to kill Peter and his allies when Thomas intervened with the Royal bow. He shoots Flagg in the eye but the dark wizard uses magic to disappear, escaping them. Shortly after, Thomas (who has become hated throughout Delain) leaves with a friend, Dennis, to go and track Flagg who is on the run. It is said that eventually, they confront him, but the result of the showdown is unknown. The Wind Through the Keyhole In the story that Roland tells Bill Streeter in The Wind Through the Keyhole (which is also the name of the tale), Walter appears as The Covenant Man. The Covenant Man is responsible for collecting taxes, and if not paid in full, is willing to take people's possessions and throw them out of their homes. The Covenant Man befriends a yound Tim Ross following his father's death (that was believed to have been caused by a dragon), and helps him uncover the truth of his father's mysterious death. It was Tim's stepfather, Big Kells, who killed his father. Tim finds this out with a key that The Covenant Man gives him that will open any lock, but only once. Tim opens Big Ross' trunk and finds his father's lucky coin. During a later palaver with The Covenant Man, Tim witnesses his mother being beaten by Big Kells, but The Covenant Man keeps Tim with him. The beating leaves his mother blind, and The Covenant Man shows Tim another vision: Tim visiting Maerlyn and obtaining a magic blindfold that heals his mother's sight. Tim departs on the journey. He later finds a tyger that turns out to be Maerlyn, transformed by The Covenant Man. Role in the Dark Tower Series Wizard and Glass/The Gunslinger Born When Roland was a young boy, Flagg, under the name of Marten Broadclock, orchestrated a devious plan of treachery in service of the Crimson King. Marten became the court magician of Gilead, acting as chief advisor to his father Steven, seducing Roland's mother Gabrielle, exposing this to Roland on purpose. This enraged Roland to the point that he decided to take his coming of age gunslinger trial at the unheard of age of 14. Marten hoped that Roland would fail in his test and be sent west with all other failed gunslingers. Unfortunately for him, Roland succeeded, he then escapes Gilead when Steven orders his arrest through a gateway he draws on the wall. When Roland's soul become trapped in Maerlyn's Grapefruit during ''The Long Road Home Marten becomes in control of the vision Roland sees whilst he is in there. Marten had another plan to murder Steven Deschain through Gabrielle, but this plan also failed. However Marten aided John Farson, a notorious madman turned revolutionary in the destruction of In-World and this eventually led to the fall of Gilead. After witnessing the final destruction of Gilead, Flagg fought with the other remnants of John Farson's armies at Jericho Hill, under the name Rudin Filario. Filario is said to be a screaming blue-faced barbarian who shot an arrow through the eye of Roland's best friend, Cuthbert Allgood, ending his life. The Sorcerer Walter luckily saves Clay Reynolds after he informs John Farson he has located the Pink Sphere, he has the idea of manipulating Charles Champignon into writing a letter of recommendation for a man named Kingson who will infiltrate the city and take the sphere. He later has to resurrect Kingson after he was killed and aids him leave the city through a doorway and goes to retrieve the sphere himself discovering the demon inside has caused the death of Gabrielle Deschain and so forces the demon back into the sphere. The Fall of Gilead He is seen during the battle of the Fall of Gilead. After the battle he is seen ceremoniously taking down the Affiliation flag atop Gilead, making the city's destruction official. The Battle of Jericho Hill He holds Randolph's family, Chloe and Edmund captive causing Randolph to betray Roland to get them back. He kills Chloe as Randolph is late to a meeting with him and later disguises himself, changing a crow to look like himself and pretends to hand the crow (Marten) over to Roland. Roland figures out that Marten is actually disguised and so Marten flees. During the actual battle of Jericho Hill, Marten kills Cuthbert Allgood by shooting a cross bow bolt through his eye. After the battle he spits on Roland's body in triumph for stopping his quest for the Dark Tower, thinking him dead. The Gunslinger After the battle of Jericho Hill, Flagg takes on the persona of Walter O'Dim (or better known to Roland as the Man in Black) and flees from Roland. After this Roland begins his long trek across the wastes of a world that has "moved on" following Walter's every move and slowly getting closer to the Man in Black. After many long years of traveling across the ruined Mid-World landscape Walter rests on the far side of the Cyclopean Mountains, not before tempting Roland to drop his traveling companion, Jake Chambers. It is there that Roland finally catches Walter and they palaver. Walter fortells Roland's future using a personalized deck of tarot cards and tells him that he must wait for the time of the drawing (The time when Roland would summon Odetta Holmes and Eddie Dean and eventually Jake Chambers again, to help him in his quest). After this, Walter shows Roland a vision of multiple levels of the Dark Tower. Roland remains asleep for hundreds of years after his vision and Flagg escapes him and places bones in his black clothing to make it look like he died long ago. The Dark Tower Padick's ultimate goal is similar to his enemy, Roland's. He intends to take over the room at the top of The Dark Tower and become "God of All". Flagg attempts to manipulate Mordred Deschain by getting a hold of his birthmarked spider leg to open the door of the Tower. Upon meeting with Mordred to palaver, the young spider boy senses his intentions and forces him to tear out various body parts for Mordred's nourishment and then proceeds to kill him in a rather brutal manner. Gallery Category:The Dark Tower Characters Category:Tie-In Characters Category:The Red Category:Men